Immortal Clay

Immortal Clay is a dense but dull mystery. It is almost like a soap opera.

A small pottery factory run by two brothers is in debt. One of the brother's after many false dawns might have invented an unbreakable ceramic tile. One-Ten tells Steed this could have a significant industrial impact and needs to be protected against foreign espionage.

When Steed arrives at the pottery factory, there is already a dead body when an industrial spy is found dead. An Eastern European trying to persuade workers with a bribe and a question mark as to whether an unbreakable tile has even been created.

In terms of science The Avengers were ahead of the curve. As One-Ten mentions such a tile could be used on a rocket and the Space Shuttle did have heat resistant tiles.

Apart from industrial espionage there is an undercurrent of jealousy as a blonde ceramic worker who wants to be a beauty queen attracts several suitors. The story and production is just too silly and unengaging.

Cathy goes undercover at a ceramics factory, where a friend of hers claims to have discovered a formula for unbreakable china, a formula that enemy agents are keen to get their hands on.

I get why there's a bit of discontent about this episode, it's not to everyone's taste, but I thought it was quite fun. Such was the variety and breadth of this show, that unbreakable teacups really did form the basis for a plot.

As an ex employee of Wedgwood, I can assure you that a bone china teacup would take all of my seventeen stone, it's a ridiculously strong and durable substance.

Lots of talk about a reboot, I genuinely don't see how it's going to work, the 60's was just a totally different time, who'd have the sheer audacity to pen a story about unbreakable teacups.

Lots of familiar faces here, but I'm not sure the likes of Paul Eddington or Steve Plytas shine through here, Blackman stood out for me.

The accident prone night Watchman was an interesting character, he had me on edge every time he was near a cup or saucer.

7/10.

No, not Honor Blackman. I wrote of the guest beautiful girl who wanted to be a beauty queen in the ep. Forget the bad reviews on here discussing unimportant men in the ep. That beauty queen wannabe brings the ep up from 3 or 4 stars to a solid minimum of 7! The setting outside of her was dull mostly taking place in a pottery factory. That setting simply was not best. This pretty woman guest carried every scene she was in. There was an ep of Man About the House ( In praise of older men)where Chrissy dated a married man (Mr. Cross). I thought this pretty lady in this guest started on that particular ep of MATH as Mrs. Cross. There was a resemblance. But it was a different lady in this Avengers ep!! This lady was Deedee Sullivan. The lady on MATH was Audrey Nicholson. Important and interesting observatioñ!

"Immortal Clay" is set at a pottery shop run by two debt-ridden brothers, Richard Marling (Paul Eddington, later seen in "Something Nasty in the Nursery"), who handles the business end, and Allen Marling (Gary Watson, from "Death on the Slipway," "Lobster Quadrille," and "Wish You Were Here"), the young genius handling production. In the last of his ten appearances (half of which are lost episodes from season one), One Ten (Douglas Muir), Steed's superior, wants to know if an unbreakable ceramic has been discovered by Allen Marling, but does not approve of Cathy Gale's frequent involvement, her being an "amateur!" A dead body is found drowned in a vat of liquid clay, and was apparently on friendly terms with Richard Marling's wife Anne (Rowena Gregory, later seen in "The White Elephant"), who complains about her husband being too busy to spend time with her. There is also the airhead blonde assistant (Didi Sullivan) in love with Allen Marling, which drives her ardent suitor Harry Miller (James Bree, later seen in "Killer") mad with jealousy. A desperate Miller decides to steal Allen's unbreakable invention and sell it to De Groot (Steve Plytas, later seen in "A Touch of Brimstone"), a foreign importer ready to make a killing on the deal. Uninteresting soap opera stuff, but that's really all there is.

Has Allen Marling created an unbreakable ceramic cup? One-Ten sends Steed as a pottery expert from the government to investigate as it could be used for missile nose cones, while Cathy, pretends to write a book on pottery and is at the factory for research. Enemy spy De Groot bribes Miller to steal the tile after his colleague Lander is killed and the corrupt potter forms it into a cup, destined for a trade fair behind the Iron Curtain.

It's interesting episode which is marred by soapy subplot, too many characters and too much talk - despite this I found it watchable, especially about ceramic factory and the intrigue.